One was the miraculous stretch run the mare had in the race of her career on Nov. 15 at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes, her first graded stakes win of her career.

The other memory, tragically, is as devastating as the mare’s stakes win was thrilling; Miss Mischief was found to be filled with cancer a few months later and had to be put down.

“I couldn’t talk about it until about two weeks ago,” said Manning in late April from her farm in Troy, Virginia. “I was just so upset.”

At first, Manning had no plans to attend the Sovereign Award ceremony which was held on April 8 at Woodbine. She had a change of heart and gathered some friends together to take a private jet to Toronto only to miss out when the pilot got sick.

Instead, Manning spent an emotional evening watching the ceremony on the internet with her friends at her side. Miss Mischief received two awards that evening.

“I was surprised,” said Manning. “It is such a great award but she’s not Canadian and I’m not Canadian and I wasn’t sure if she would win.”

Deborah Easter, president of the Virginia Thoroughbred Horse Association, and the woman who bought Miss Mischief for Manning five years ago, accepted both the Champion Older Female and Champion Female Sprinter trophies for the mare.

Manning has been in horse racing for about 12 years and recently began concentrating her purchases on fillies. Miss Mischief, a daughter of the popular American sire Into Mischief from the stakes-placed mare Kid Majic, by Lemon Drop Kid, was a $125,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton July.

“I was riding my bike on Cape Cod, doing the bidding on the phone with Deborah,” said Manning. “I bought three fillies from that sale: Miss Mischief and another one, Disco Barbie, who is still racing.”

Miss Mischief debuted on the track in 2012 for trainer Tony Dutrow and was a stakes winner in New York and Pennsylvania in 2013 and 2014 for trainer Steve Asmussen. She joined Dale Capuano’s barn in the fall of 2014.

It was at then that Miss Mischief made her first visit to Woodbine when she finished fifth in the Maple Leaf Stakes (Grade 3). A plan was set in place to race the mare more at Woodbine in 2015. A horse must make three starts in Canada to be eligible for a Sovereign Award.

“That was intentional,” said Manning. “She’s very versatile and she likes the Polytrack there very much.”

Following a pair of modest performances in a pair of stakes races on the dirt at Laurel Park in January and February, Miss Mischief had a short break before arriving at Woodbine for the May 9 Hendrie Stakes (Grade 3).

Under Woodbine rider Jesse Campbell., Miss Mischief was 15 to 1 in the race, but rallied strongly to be second to Woodbine speedster Skylander Girl.

She returned to Woodbine for the Trillium overnight stakes race on June 13 and charged fiercely from behind a very slow pace to be third, just three quarters of a length behind Sam-Son Farms’ Checkered Past.

Miss Mischief got her confidence up two months later at Preque Isle in Erie, Pa., when she romped in an allowance race as the odds-on favourite.

Similar to her other years at the track, Miss Mischief seemed to thrive in the fall weather. She finished third in the Presque Isle Masters (Grade 2) in September and then won the $100,000 HBPA Stakes for the second consecutive year at Presque Isle.

The Bessarabian was up next and under a heady ride by Eurico Rosa da Silva, the year’s top jockey, Miss Mischief stayed in close range of the speed and then took off to a 2 ¼ length win in the fast time of 1:21.3 for seven furlongs, posting a career best 95 Beyer Speed Figure.

Miss Mischief made one more start in her career, in the Nellie Morse at Laurel in January and finished seventh. It was after a short vacation that she began to show signs of illness.

“She was in light training and started to spike a fever,” said Manning. “Dale wanted to send her to Leesburg [Marion DuPont Equine Center]. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.”

An early diagnosis showed the mare had an abscess on her abdomen and Manning elected to have her operated on.

“When they opened her up she had tumors on every major organ. The vets told me they almost never see a horse with cancer,” said Manning.

Remarkably, the vets told Manning that Miss Mischief accomplished her amazing win in the Bessarabian with the cancer. Miss Mischief won nine of 24 races and $522,980.

“I was so upset,” said Manning. “It was such a shock. She was so keen on what she did for a living. She really did deserve both awards.”

“It was such a shock. She was so keen on what she did for a living. She really did deserve both awards.”